Vettikavala schools teach farming through ‘Harithasree’

The Vettikavala block panchayat is gearing up to impart practical agricultural lessons to students by transforming school campuses into vibrant vegetable gardens. Implemented under the ‘Harithasree’ initiative, the project aims to foster an interest in farming among children, promote organic agriculture, and set up vegetable gardens across schools. Beyond teaching practical farming skills, the initiative strives to meet the vegetable requirements for school mid-day meals through local, home-grown produce.

The initiative has been successfully rolled out with an allocation from the development fund for the 2026–27 financial year. Under this scheme, high-yielding hybrid seedlings of six vegetables -- tomato, lady’s finger, green chilli, brinjal, cabbage, and cauliflower -- along with organic fertilizers are being distributed to participating schools. The project has already been executed across 56 selected schools spanning six grama panchayats under the block’s jurisdiction.

28,000 saplings distributed

To ensure ample cultivation, each selected school is provided with a minimum of 450 vegetable seedlings, with larger campuses receiving up to 600 seedlings depending on available land and facilities. So far, a total of 28,000 vegetable saplings have been distributed across the 56 schools. To maintain high standards, people’s representatives from respective block divisions are actively inspecting the campuses to ensure the gardens are properly nurtured and maintained.

“The core objective is to connect children with nature and soil by making agriculture an experiential part of their daily life rather than a subject confined to textbooks,” said block panchayat president Bindu Lakshmi. She added that the block panchayat plans to expand the project to more schools across the region in the coming years.